10 of 13Sergio Perez leads Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hulkenberg in a turn at Suzuka on Sunday.

Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

11 of 13Fernando Alonso spins in turn one as the grid for the Formula One race at Suzuka gets jumbled.

Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

12 of 13Points leader Fernando Alonso didn't leave the race in Suzuka without kicking up a little dirt first.

Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

13 of 13Sebastian Vettel had things well in hand on Sunday in Suzuka.

Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Sebestian Vettel gave his quest for his third world championship a huge boost with an impressive victory at Suzuka. The German went unchallenged after his teammate Mark Webber made a bad start and was delayed by a first-corner incident.

"It was an important step today," Vettel said. "There is still a long way to go. I don't know what happened behind me today but [Fernando] Alonso was very unlucky. We never know what is going to happen in the next race so it was important to take points today."

Red Bull Racing secured its first front row of the 2012 season on Saturday as Vettel took pole ahead of Webber. Jenson Button secured third for McLaren, but a gearbox change penalty after a problem arose in the Singapore GP dropped the Briton to eighth. Kamui Kobayashi started third ahead of Romain Grosjean, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.

The result left Alonso in the points lead, just four ahead of Vettel.

There was huge drama at the start, with a string of incidents affecting some of the main contenders. The first victim was Alonso, who was pitched into his second first-lap retirement of 2012 after contact with Raikkonen. Seconds later, Grosjean sent Webber into a spin. Then Bruno Senna hit Nico Rosberg, knocking the Mercedes driver from the race.

Grosjean, Senna and Webber all pitted for repairs during the caution period. Webber, however, failed to catch the safety car before the restart and lost track position. Both Grosjean and Senna received penalties for their involvement in the crash.

Meanwhile, at the restart Vettel led Kobayashi, Button, Felipe Massa (up from 10th on the grid), Raikkonen and Hamilton. Vettel soon opened up an advantage, and never looked back. A later first pit stop on lap worked well for Massa. He came in along with Vettel on lap 17 and jumped Kobayashi and Button to claim second.

Vettel finished the race on two pit stops, looking ever more comfortable out front on his way to a superb win. Massa dropped back but stayed safely ahead of Kobayashi en route to his first podium of the season.

Kobayashi held on to claim third place by just a half-second over Button.

Button's teammate Hamilton took fifth place after an unusually low key race. Hamilton struggled with tire wear in the middle of the race. Despite some front-wing damage after his touch with Alonso, Raikkonen was able to come home sixth for Lotus, keeping his outside chances of the title alive.